MANILA, Philippines — Richard Gomez couldn’t help but turn emotional when he saw the showbiz press at the grand mediacon for his acting comeback, “Salvageland,” an action thriller helmed by Lino S. Cayetano.
“I really missed you all. I got teary-eyed. I’ve been an actor for such a long time,” Richard told the press.
It was a warm feeling for the veteran actor-turned-politician to return to his “home turf,” as he put it.
“I’ve worked with you guys for a long time. And seeing you guys again, it’s wonderful.”
What led him to say yes to “Salvageland” was the impressive script material. “Even before, when I was very active in movies, the movies I did were very script-based. When this script came, I said, ‘This is really good.’ I checked my schedule, tamang-tama ang gulo-gulo sa (the timing was right as it was so chaotic in) Congress. So I said, ‘Out muna ako diyan (I’ll stay out of that) and work on this first.’”
It was also a new experience for Richard to work with direk Lino, as well as with the rest of the cast, including Elijah Canlas who plays his son in “Salvageland.”
“It’s a good opportunity for me to work with a new set of actors, crew and director.”
Accepting “Salvageland” is a “wonderful time to be back in my own turf as an actor,” Richard reiterated, adding that he sorely missed acting. “In fact, during my first two days (of taping), I told my manager Pia (Campos) that I needed to warm up because I hadn’t acted in a long time. It’s our job to memorize pages and pages of lines. I haven’t done that in a long time so the first two days, it was difficult for me to memorize the lines until I got back into the routine.
“I really have to go through the whole script. And then re-read, re-read, re-read and then I was acting alone. I was doing my lines and it went OK.”
The last movie that Richard did was the 2018 family romantic comedy-drama “Three Words to Forever” with Sharon Cuneta. He was the mayor in Ormoc at that time.
Showing in cinemas nationwide on Nov. 26, “Salvageland” follows the story of Richard’s character who’s a policeman about to retire and his son who’s a budding policeman, played by Elijah.
According to the media release, the film is set in a desolate town. Along a dead highway stands a rundown sub-police station occupied by the characters of Richard and Elijah. It’s looking like a regular night for them until a wounded woman comes crying for help. She has just escaped from her abusive boyfriend, who’s also the leader of a crime syndicate — and he’s deadset to hunt her down.
Naturally, this sets the father and son duo into defensive mode, not just for the sake of the woman, but of their town. As the nearly-retired cop and his rookie son find themselves thrust into a brutal battle like never before, they realize that it’s not just their survival skills, but their principles and their bond that are being put to a test.
Described as a neo-Western kind of film, “Salvageland” also marked the return of direk Lino into feature filmmaking after focusing primarily on television directing for 15 years. The screenplay is co-written by Shugo Praico and JC Pacala.
Joining Richard and Elijah are Mon Confiado, Cindy Miranda, Mccoy De Leon and Angela Morena.
The film is a collaboration between Rein Entertainment and Viva Films.
The central themes addressed in “Salvageland” remain relevant today, particularly its depiction of the clash between old and new societal systems, direk Lino maintained.
“Our film is about a cop who wants to retire and wants to live a peaceful life,” direk Lino told The STAR.
“But his son, whom he raised well, is now fighting against him because he doesn’t want the status quo. He wants change. So for me, in every field — in our work, in the industry, in politics, in the family, in business — the old and the new are always clashing. And it’s so interesting to watch that clash.”
“Salvageland” likewise highlights a woman’s courage to stand up, as shown through Cindy’s character as a whistleblower, direk Lino said.
He added that they were inspired by the success of the sports drama “Sunshine” and the historical drama “Quezon,” and hoped to follow in their footsteps.
“You sit (in the cinemas), you get entertained, and these are very uniquely Filipino stories but the themes are universal. I think we wanna continue to ride that wave of these kinds of films.”
As for Richard, the movie is “mirroring life and basically society.”
“There’s social relevance,” he stressed.
“In the midst of all that is happening now, corruption, blaming people, in the movie, pinakita rin yung corruption nung trabaho namin (in the local government unit). Hindi lang siya on a larger scale but on the scale na saan kami at the present time,” he further explained.
“It’s about how we deal with problems like that. It makes you think and ask, ‘What are we going to do?’ That’s where Elijah’s character comes in — showing that we need to change our system.”